Swiss Red Cross Director Markus Mader and Head of International Cooperation Department Beat von Daniken will visit Belarus for the first time on 3-5 April

The guests will learn more about the progress in the implementation of the SRC program in Belarus and discuss further cooperation with the Belarus Red Cross Society (BRC). The visitors are scheduled to meet with BRC top management, workers and volunteers who have taken an active part in joint projects. Markus Mader and Beat von Däniken also plan to visit Viciebsk, Navapolack and Bahušeusk in the Sianno district of the Viciebsk region.

The Swiss Red Cross has been providing expert and financial support to Belarus since 1994. SRC main partner and project executor is the Belarus Red Cross Society, interaction with state and local authorities is established. In the early years, SRC assistance was aimed at funding the BRCS Visiting Nurses Service and the Chernobyl Humanitarian Assistance and Rehabilitation Program. The partnership expanded, covering such areas as the development of medico-social home care, community engagement, prevention of non-communicable diseases, healthy and active ageing. The Swiss Red Cross provided humanitarian assistance to the most vulnerable groups of the population of Belarus, social and medical assistance to displaced people from Donetsk and Lugansk regions of Ukraine.

International cooperation with the Swiss Red Cross brings new technologies, methods and approaches to the activities of the Belarus Red Cross Society. Community engagement based on the active participation of its members is one of those approaches. These days it is applied to overcome the social isolation of older people, as well as to involve the population in prevention of non-communicable diseases and promotion of a healthy lifestyle. SRC-BRC partnership fostered the introduction of kinaesthetics training in Belarus, a unique methodology allowing to manage home care more efficiently and to protect carers’ health.

The priority direction of the SRC-BRC cooperation in 2018-2020 includes strengthening the BRC capacity to improve the quality of medical and social care at home, improving the system of outsourcing to ensure the sustainability of the BRC activities and promote healthy ageing and active longevity. The guests will discuss further cooperation with the BRC top management.

“During our guests’ visit, we plan to sign an agreement to join the Platform for partnership, cooperation, and coordination. The platform is designed to unite the efforts of national Red Cross societies, the International Committee of the Red Cross, and the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies to turn into practice the BRC strategic priorities,” BRS Secretary General Olga Mychko stressed.

The Swiss Red Cross was founded on July 17, 1866. It is one of the oldest national societies of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement. Within the framework of the international cooperation program, the SRC operates in 29 countries, including Belarus.